I hate dress-up . . .

I'm not really sure how I keep finding myself as the target of dress-up all of a sudden, but let me tell you, having sisters is no cake-walk! I mean, seriously, com'on, pigtails? I tell ya, I should definately get voted "brother of the year" for allowing them to mess with me like this! Mom thinks it's funny, but Dad was having a hard time finding the humor in the girls' latest pretend beauty shop. Mol-Rayleigh were so proud of themselves for this one, and now that I look back, I'm pretty sure that they only did it so they would have some blackmale for when we are in high school. I really need to be more careful!

Just a little phone chat . . .

Tucker wanted to call Grandma Nita tonight when we got home, so we dialed her up. As he was talking, I absolutely lost it when I saw him standing there like this. How cute! He is just way too big all of a sudden.

Day 3 - I was NOT going 48 mph!

When we woke up this morning, Kenny wasn't feeling so hot. We decided to hang out and play in the snow outside the condo for the morning to give him a chance to rest, and give Tyler a chance to play with the kids in the snow and to sled. We bundled up & headed out again, and before we came in, Kenny was up and outside with us (feeling OK). Tucker did a lot better in the snow this day, and even got down long enough to kick some snow on mom and throw it on me.

Later on, we got cleaned up headed down the road up the Ute Pass. Along the road, we spotted a couple of elk along the pass. It was so beautiful up in the mountains - you could see for miles. Then we shot over to Kremmling, CO to find some eagles along the Colorado River. On my way out of town, I made the comment as I was driving that I wondered what the speed limit was. About that time, we-ooo, we-ooo, and the lights flipped on. I was getting pulled over. The whole scenario went a little like this:

"Do you know why I pulled you over, Ma'am?"

"No, sir, I really don't."

"Well, the speed limit is 35 - do you know how fast you were going?"

I thought we'd already been over this, and I'm sure I couldn't have been going much over that as I was in town, and I would think that you would know if you were going 50 through town, but maybe not. "No, sir, I don't!"

"Well, you were going 48!" he says with a smirk and a little head-bob, neck jerk movement to make his point.
"I was?" I say in sheer surprise. "I'm really sorry, but I didn't realize that I was going that fast."

"Well, you were!" with the cute little head movement again. "But I'm gonna let you off, despite the fact that you are a Kansas fan, and I am a Colorado fan." He thought he was really cute by this point.

I had explained earlier that we were out looking for eagles, and so he felt obligated to show us his knowledge (or lack there of) about that subject as well. He informed us that there hadn't been any eagles in Kremmling for 3 or 4 months now and tried to head us back toward Dillon - dummy! We drove less than a mile when we spotted our first TWO (yes, not one, but two) eagles. He must not get out much - probably why he felt the need to pull over two cute women in a Yukon XL Denali and harass us!! Jerk! His business card will make a nice place-filler in the scrapbook though.

Anyway, we saw so much wildlife, as evident by the pictures, that it wasn't even funny! It was amazing - the kids were in awe! We saw a red fox, about 6 eagles, and lots and lots of mule deer including a 10 point buck all right outside our window. Tucker loved rolling the window up and down to see them.

After our "wildlife tour" we took the dam road over to Frisco and ate dinner at Tuscatos, a local Italian restaurant. It was absolutely delicious! I can almost taste that alfredo still.

Ute Pass Pics - Day 3

Kremmling Pics - Day 3

Snow Day - Day 2

Today we just stayed around the condo and played outside in the snow. It was taller than Tucker. The girls loved the snow, and Tucker liked it until he threw some of it up in the air and it all blew back into his face. From that point on, he was pretty much done with the cold snow. He just wanted held.

The snow was too dry to pack, so we couldn't build a snowman or throw snowballs very well, but it was fun none-the-less. We did make some perfect snow angels on the tennis court, though. We also had a perfect sledding ramp right outside the condo. We had to take the video op to catch a couple of runs on the sled before heading in to warm up.

The condo was so warm and inviting the whole time that we were there. The fireplace was so soothing, and we really just felt at home while we were there. The kids just played and played all afternoon. That evening, all of us girls took an opportunity for some "girl-time" and hit the local outlet malls in Silverthorne. We found some great deals - we may have to buy a luggage compartment for the top of the vehicle to get it all home, but it sure was fun!!

Tyler had to rest all day in bed, as he had been up the entire night before, sick. The hope is that he will feel much better tomorrow (and that no one else will catch it)! He was really upset that he couldn't go outside with us in the snow, as all he had talked about for two weeks was how excited he was to have time with the kids while we were in Colorado. It was so hard to see him sick like that, but maybe that was God's way of trying to tell us to slow down a little bit. Who knows?

Colorado vacation - Day 1

"And . . . we're off, like a herd of turtles in a sand storm!" as my dad always put it as we departed for our annual family vacations. For any of you who have seen any of the National Lampoon's family vacation movies - that's us, complete with our own Clark W. Griswold! We were packed to the brim and headed for Kansas City to pick up Kenny by 7:30 am, and from there - off to Dillon, Colorado for 5 glorious days of fun & relaxation. We stayed in a condo with Megan & Kenny Felt (free of charge!), as it is a benefit offered to them from their local bank. How nice of them to invite us along on their vacation time, huh?!! We couldn't ask for better friends!

Driving went well, for the most part. All was clear until Denver, where we ran into quite a bit of snow on the roads. Tyler drove the entire way (all 14 hours), but the last 2 hours of the trip were quite stressful, as the conditions were extremely unfavorable & our headlights were so covered with mud & road grime that he was having a hard time seeing. He handled it very well, however. The girls were absolute angels! They just played and played with each other in the back, watched movies, played with their leapsters, played house, etc. They never even asked how much longer until we were about 4 hours away and Molly finally asked. That was the one and only time however, that they inquired! We couldn't have asked for anything better. Tucker had lost his patience with his carseat about the time the roads got bad and began crying for me to hold him. Luckily he fell asleep for most of the remainder of the trip!

We stopped at Hank's Restaurant in Goodland for a quick bite for dinner. It was nice to get out of the vehicle for a short while and enjoy our meal. Kenny was most impressed, not by the meal, but by the chocolate pie afterward!

The kids always enjoy jumping on the beds in hotels. So, once we got there, it seemed like the natural thing to do, right? We were trying to explain that this was like someone's house and we shouldn't jump on the bed, blah, blah, blah. As we were leaving the room, the girls were standing on the beds (with their shoes off, of course), Tucker announces, "This is not a hotel, Mol-Rayleigh! This is Colorado!" It was so funny!

As we all headed for bed, exhausted from riding all day, Tyler explained to me that he was not feeling all so well. I figured it must have just been from riding and he would sleep it off. Wrong! He was up all night vomiting. I felt so bad for him - not exactly the way you hope to start a vacation. Whether it was motion sickness, altitude sickness, the Arby's sandwich at lunch, the fried foods at Hank's for dinner, stress from driving or stress from work, or just the flu, we will never know. But no matter which way you slice or dice it - he was SICK.

1st Day of Gymnastics

The girls were wound for sound all day. It was one of those days in kid-world that felt like 10 days long. Finally 5:00 had arrived. On with the leotards and off to the "Y". Only a million questions later, and a full set of instructions from Molly to Rayleigh about every drip of knowledge that she attained about gymnastics, we were finally there. (Molly is quite the "coach" when it comes to encouraging Rayleigh, but when it comes right down to it, Rayleigh often is more willing to perform.)

At first, it felt like a bad scene out of "Mr. Mom" - you know, the one where the mom has her window rolled down and is yelling, "You're doing it wrong - you're going the wrong way!" The gym was busting at the seams, and I happen to sit in a lady's chair that she was apparently saving for her 3-year-old when she thought she needed a seat. She diligently let me know that she was sitting there! Talk about hospitality for the new girl! Anyway, we blew it off, and stood at the end and waited for class to begin.

The rest of the evening went fairly smooth however. The girls were pretty shy at first, but the teacher is very understanding & encouraging and allowed me to stay on the mat with them for as long as it takes. They jumped right in and did very well. Rayleigh got a little freaked out once when she spotted all of the parents watching her and needed to take a few minutes to regain control of herself, but other than that, they did very well.

From the sounds of them on the way home, you would think that we will be seeing them in the next Olympics, but we will see.

Keep reading . . .

I have been trying to catch up on some back-logging of the blog site, so you may need to scroll through some of the things that you have already read to see some of the "new" entries during December. I have really gotten behind on a lot of things this past month, so I am trying to go back and date things when they really occurred. Please excuse my lack of punctuality, I'm sure that any of you out there with children understand this all too well!

My 25th Birthday (for the 3rd time)

Today (and yesterday) were wonderful. I really enjoyed my birthday this year with my family. I have been very stressed with work & Christmas lately, so today, I just hung out with Tyler & the kids, and really took in some relaxation. I even got to sleep in today until 9:00 (thanks Daddy for keeping the kids quiet)!

Tyler offered to get me a cake, but I told him that I would really rather spend the time with the girls and make one. So Friday night after work, we baked a cake. Then after work on Saturday afternoon, we decorated it. They got to choose what color they wanted to make Mom's birthday cake, and then helped me make the frosting (or at least they stood close to ask a million questions and taste each ingredient separately and then all combined) and lick the beaters! After that, of course, they helped me spread the frosting on, and who could forget the sprinkles?! It turned out to be quite a beautiful creation, and scrumptious as well!

That evening we went to church and then dinner at Bricktown with Mom, Dad, and Carrie. It was delicious as usual! When we got home, we let Tyler play bartender & make us strawberry daiquiris as we enjoyed blowing out the candles (Tucker commented, "Whoa, that's a whole bunch!" - thanks son) & unwrapped a few presents. Does it get any better?

Today, on my birthday, I got to go shopping with the gift card that my parents got for me, and I picked out all of my new outfits for our Colorado trip in 11 days! Oh, and the girls at the Mall Deli had to sing Happy Birthday to me, of course. Thanks Carrie!! Other than that, we spent the afternoon outside, seeing as how it was 60 degrees out - the prettiest day that I ever remember on my birthday. The kids went down early to bed, and now I have had the evening to catch up a little on my blog! Does life get any better? I don't really think so!

T-U-C-K-E-R

Within the past week, Tucker has learned to spell his name. If you ask him, he will proudly state T-U-C-K-E-R. I was completely shocked the first time that he did this. Do you think he pays attention to his older sisters? We have been practicing his name with them (& Molly can write his name as well), and I suppose that he must have showed up to practice as well. He can also write the letter "T" as well. A few weeks ago, he was wearing a pair of his "Tommy" jeans and they have a T on them. He pointed to it and said, "Look, Mommy, it's my name!" Too cute.

The girls have learned some new songs over Christmas break as well. They got "Mr. Stinky Feet" for Christmas, and they love it. They can sing about five of the songs on the CD already, and have coined their favorites as "No More Cryin' Tonight" & "I Like Pickles". I love to listen to them sing, it's so adorable. You can tell that Rayleigh really prides herself on learning all of the words, just as any perfectionist would, and Molly just enjoys belting out any of the words that she has picked up on thus far.

New Year's Eve

Cheers to a new year! Hope 2008 is a good one for all of you. No true New Year's resolutions here (like quitting anything or losing any weight, etc), but Tyler & I have decided that we would like to make an effort to see our families more often. We would like to have dinner a couple of times per month with them during the week where we make the effort to get there versus them always having to come to us. We also would like to focus more on the kids and less on work (not just our jobs, but work in general - laundry, dishes, cleaning, maintaining).

We had a really nice New Year's Eve with Megan & Kenny Felt at our house. We cooked appetizers & quesadillas and snacked the evening away. The boys played XBox 360 Madden 2008 & Megan and I got into a grueling game of HiHo Cherrio with the kids. Talk about raw excitement!

I mentioned to the kids that I had bought them some bubbly grape juice to toast with after bath. As we finished up putting on Tucker's pj's, he runs for the stairs and shouts, "I want some toast, Mommy!" I don't think he quite got it! After bath time, toasting time, and the official "ball drop", the kids headed to bed and the "adults" played a hot game of Loaded Questions (a fun game that I would recommend). All in all, it was a nice, relaxing evening of comfortable entertainment.